1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device, an information processing method, and a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a program for causing a computer to perform information processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is an image forming apparatus which may be additionally installed with an application program (or application software) and the like after being forwarded to a user, in the form of a plug-in. For example, a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-49677 proposes an image forming apparatus that may be installed with an application developed in the C-language (hereinafter referred to as “C-application”) and an application developed in the Java (registered trademark) language (hereinafter referred to as “J-application”).
However, a platform for the C-application (hereinafter referred to as “C-application platform”) and a platform for the J-application (hereinafter referred to as “J-application platform”) are different. More particularly, in the J-application platform, there exists a platform, corresponding to a JSDK (Java Servlet Development Kit) platform of the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-49677, having an API (Application Program Interface) for the Java on the C-application platform.
The model dependency with respect to the C-application platform is greatly deteriorated in the case of the JSDK platform. In other words, the API of the JSDK platform is smoothened with respect to the model. Hence, from the point of view of the application developer, it may be advantageous to create a developing target application in the form of the J-application. This is because the need for changing the source code is low in the case of the J-application, and the development cost may be reduced.
However, a function range of the API provided by the JSDK platform is narrower than a function range of the API provided by the C-application platform. In other words, the number of functions realizable by a pure J-application is lower than that realizable by a pure C-application. The pure J-application refers to the J-application that is formed solely by program modules operating on the JSDK platform.
Accordingly, the function that is not realizable solely by the J-application needs to be implemented as a C-application. In this case, a module of the J-application and a module of the C-application coexist in a package that is marketed as a single application.
The application in which the J-application and the C-application coexist may appear as a single application when viewed from the user. However, when viewed from an image forming apparatus that does not take into consideration an application having such a structure, the J-application and the C-application coexisting in the single application appear as two separate applications. For this reason, there may be a problem in that the user needs to perform two install operations, that is, instruct execution of the install operation two separates times.